I awoke this morning to a message from Fr. Siewers. He shared a NY Post article, “Young men leaving traditional churches for ‘masculine’ Orthodox Christianity in droves,” which I read with my coffee. This is a trend within Orthodoxy, and arguably I’m part of it, where (relatively) young men are leaving the consumerist ‘Big Box’ and the compromised traditional churches for a weird alternative that feels foreign to most Americans.
I know, in past blogs, about Orthodox growth, I’ve done a sort of victory lap about Orthodoxy and in doing so left out valid counterpoints. Yes, indeed, many young men are finding Orthodoxy. But it may not be as big a trend as articles like this NY Post story or the Orthodox faithful make it out to be. The growth from fundamentalist reactionaries is limited—most especially if it is only drawing in males. It is difficult to sustain this if no accompanying young women are willing to procreate with these transplanted men.
The truth is that Orthodox, in the United States of America, only number around 6-7 million. Who knows how many show up on Sunday? For sake of reference, that is less than the estimates for illegal immigrants who currently live in this country, around 11.7 million, and basically makes the Orthodox contingent a demographic drop in the bucket. Yes, growth is good, but is this sustainable? Or is it just a blip driven by those desperate to do something a little different from everyone else and destined to fade like Hipster fashion after a decade?
My own conversion to Orthodoxy was not the same as the template laid out in the NY Post article. I wasn’t running from a church with a ‘woke’ or social justice agenda that replaced the Gospel. Yes, maybe I was a bit disgruntled with a feminized church culture where marriage and family were sacrificed for impossible ideals and visible missions. But it wasn’t in reaction to liberalization. I had done it from a conservative Mennonite church and was attracted to Orthodoxy as it was different from fundamentalism.
Ironically, this new flow of reactionary men to Orthodoxy may come at the expense of the attitude of the church that had initially drawn me. While adopting the Orthodox worship ritual, some bring their Protestant or Catholic baggage with them, there are too many Ortho-bros or those simply trying to be edgelords and unique. It is part of the Alt-right vibe, those who have rejected the far-left’s absurdity on one hand and yet are still looking for a reaction more than they are serious about their faith.
There will always be that small percentage of people who will buy a Tesla Cybertruck to be strange. Those who do things to piss off everyone else with normal tastes. And the growth of Orthodoxy is as much a rejection of the political mainstream as it is about seeking God. It feels more like cosplay, in my experience, than it is something born of a repentant spirit and desire to truly submit to the authority of Christ vested in the church. It is a bunch of dressed-up Protestants.
Case and point? The parish I left has an old Baptist convert as a priest who offended a couple (very fragile extremely idealistic homeschoolers) and the mom of this union made it her personal mission to pull as many people away as possible through lies and attacks. That’s where much of the new growth in the ROCOR parish down the road has come from and why I’ve been inclined to stay home on Sunday to be away from all of it. Not all growth is good growth.
As a postscript, my wife and I do not share the same perspective as far as worship and what church is ideal. She got along with the folks at Holy Cross. But didn’t get much out of the preaching (which was fundamentalist in flavor more than Orthodox) and practice. We sometimes attend a generic Protestant consumerist church, with a rock band and a coffee shop, because it is what reminds her most of her own generic Evangelicalism in the Philippines. My son and new daughter remain unbaptized.
Irregular Ideation 
Reminds me of the movement of young men to the Republican Party. Is Jesus (A) Orthodox (B) Fundamentalist (C) Mennonite (D) None of the above (E) I don’t know and I don’t care?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think we’re talking about something bigger than politics and religion. As much as I tend to bash the incel types, not having anything to offer in the current dating economy but smug, yet their needs are as valid as any other. They have been abandoned by the feminine mainstream. Told to suck it up, like a man, and then not granted the typical roles men before them had. In a sense, Jesus could very well be identified with the unmarried who percieve themselves to be worthy and feel they are rejected for the wrong reasons. So (F) maybe Jesus was more Ortho-bro than me?
LikeLike
Yup, married 31 years. Currently living in Chile a very feminist state that has to deal with a lot of abused women. All they talk about is women’s rights and they don’t have a clue why the men are so angry and frustrated with the status quo. It’s a complicated situation. The Biblical mandate of women submitting to their husbands and men cherishing their wives is the only thing people don’t try. I’m glad to see men turning to some sort of Christianity but for sure want them to know and walk with Jesus because Christianity isn’t the way, Jesus is the way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your answer does seem rather Orthodox. I mean, that does appear to be the appeal to young men joining their local parish. Their role, in worship and spiritual leadership, is very defined. What works is when the men of a home, or community, work to provide a secure and stable environment. I’ve learned in my couple years of marriage that I cannot be too open with my emotions or it will feed her anxieties. It is my job to guard the outer perimeter, it is her natural role make things better within these walls. This is physically how we are built. I’m physically stronger, I can lift heavier loads, whereas she can bear a child and provide it with nutrition by using only her own body. This harmony is truly an amazing thing when it works—a hellscape nightmare when it does not.
As far as the Orthodox male migration, it is something that remains to be seen if this is sustainable growth (families and children) or just a flash in the pan is Western society fragments. Yes, maybe it is ideal that men are leading the way, if that is how one sees the church being structured, but isn’t purely a movement of mysterious origins—as I’ve already outlined. I suppose this is always how it is? The early church had plenty there for a variety of reasons, some fell away and others preserved the Gospel we received.
LikeLike
I would venture that I would be more favorable towards orthodoxy than evangelicalism? The Old Testament was heavy on correctly following Biblical rituals while it seems like evangelicals tend to dismiss New Testament rituals as unnecessary or even legalistic. Faith alone is what they say. I believe that being born again, living in obedience and loving God with all of your heart are essential as well.
I agree with your assessment of roles and functions of man and woman in a marriage. Often tradition does a lot to preserve common sense.
LikeLike
Curious, are you married?
LikeLike
Joel: I shared your article with a Greek friend, who emailed me the Greek version of the NY Post piece, published in Greece. I attached a Google.translate Greek translation of your article, and I’ll let you know if I hear from him. ami
LikeLiked by 1 person
If you have ten daughters you might see them as chattel to Skoptsy
circumcise, but not if you only have one. Bikelas (1890) showed
Byzantium was the most democratic regime of its day, so autocracy only
came from Catherine’s correspondence with Diderot and according to
Vatikiotis even infected Metaxas whose family followed the Orlovs back
to Russia. Ivan became Dread only after Kazan when he included Turkish
nobles in his court, just as Greece went from being European to Middle
Eastern in 1922. Snooty nobility attend Episcopal service while
paying dubious converts to fill ROCOR pews and mouth antisemitic
canards about bolshevism being imposed from abroad instead of Czarist
Obsina myths as supposed Russian spirituality came from cooking with
hallucinogenic hemp oil Brittany Griner was arrested for. Thanks to
the internet, I find almost none of the Greek and Slav girls I tried
to date forty years ago married Orthodox. One lass married off to a
remote priest dumped the baby on her mom two years later and went on
to advanced degrees, too scarred to ever remarry. Further, history has
shown muscular religion like Sparta or Hitler often carry homoerotic
undertones. Yes, if you read Patai, you will find the same in Islam;
Do not forget what Mehmed did to the son of Megadux Lucas
Notaras.hildle That is why your childless women have small animals in
their bags to pleasure them. Don’t forget how your secular Orthodox
defended the communist WHO head on grounds he was “Orthodox”. Stop it,
Oriental Orthodox, who circumcise their women, are more muslim than
Orthodox. Protestants and Catholics are heterodox but these are
heretic. Copts hold the same Jacobite heresy as Yahovatas, but
are worse in that they circumcise their women. Fools like Spyro Gyro
Millenialist Dragas think they will keep churches from being empty by
appeasing them, but they will only succeed in discrediting you in
society and most importantly, from your children.
LikeLike